What is the Chinese-made F-7 jet that crashed into Bangladesh school?

Straits Times

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FILE PHOTO: Firefighters work to remove the wreckage from a building, after an air force training aircraft crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 21, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
A Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet on a routine training mission crashed into a college and school campus in the capital Dhaka on Monday after what the military said was a mechanical failure. At least 31 people were killed, most of them children.
Here's what we know about the F-7 BGI jet that went down:
WHAT ARE F-7/J-7 FIGHTER JETS?
The F-7 BGI, which crashed soon after take-off, is a lightweight fighter jet, the final and most advanced version of China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 family, according to Jane's Information Group.
The Chengdu J-7 is the licence-built version of the Soviet era MiG-21 and is used for training and limited combat roles. The F-7 is the export variant of J-7.
The South Asian country's air force has operated F-7 variants since the 1980s. Dhaka signed a contract for 16 BGI version aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013 - the final batch of the manufactured jets.
PRODUCTION OF THE JETS
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China manufactured the jets from 1965 to 2013, making it one of the longest-running fighter production lines there. Due to its affordability, the jet was widely exported, especially to developing nations.
The J-7 was fully decommissioned from the Chinese military by the end of 2023 but several countries still use the export variant.
WIDESPREAD USAGE OF F-7
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran and North Korea are among the countries that have used or still use variants of the F-7.
Pakistan is the largest operator of F-7 aircraft and has 66 of them, according to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Pakistan also has one of China's most advanced warplanes, the J-10, and used it to launch air-to-air missiles to bring down at least two Indian fighter jets during the recent conflict between the two countries.
PAST INCIDENTS INVOLVING THE JETS
May 2025 - An Air Force of Zimbabwe pilot died when a F-7 crashed during a routine sortie in the Southern African nation.
June 2022 - A J-7 crashed into residential buildings in the Chinese city of Xiangyang in central Hubei Province, killing at least one person on the ground.
May 2022 - Two Iranian pilots died after their F-7 crashed during a training mission near Anarak, 200 km (125 miles) east of the city of Isfahan.
January 2022 - Two Pakistani Air Force pilots were killed when a FT-7 aircraft, a variant of the F-7, crashed.
There have been a number of other incidents with F-7 jets in Pakistan that resulted in deaths of pilots. REUTERS